Republicanism is a political Philosophy that believes in a republican form of government. This is often called indirect Democracy or Representative democracy, when the people vote not to make laws and decisions but to elect representatives to make decisions and laws for them. Only the ancient Greeks managed to implement a direct democracy, not a republic.

The Republican Party (Democratic-Republican, also called Jeffersonian Republican) (1791-1825), National Republican party (1825-1835), the Republican Party from (1854-1908), and the Liberal Republican Party (1870-1872) were political parties in the United States created as a tribute to this form of government. Tragically, after 1908, conservatives corrupted the Republican Party, and republicanism as we know it has ceased to exist.

Several Republican parties around the globe still follow the classical ideology, and normally have Social Democratic policies. Parties with republic in the name often claim to "save the republic" (right wing) or "establish the true republic" (left wing). The parties that say this, however, are not always reasonable.